We would like to contact ant relatives of the crew as an eye witness to the crash, an 84 year old Dutchman witnessed this crash contacted us in October 2014 and would like to pass on his memories and thanks to the crew.

The operation was considered to be a failure. Target was covered in cloud, with no moonlight until later in the raid, the Mosquitoes failed to accurately mark the target, due to 5 of them having defective equipment.

The reports from Dusseldorf state that 24 buildings destroyed, 3,285 damaged - most of them superficial. 20 Industrial premises were also hit, with only 4 suffering serious loss of production. 16 people on the ground were killed.

Right: Sgt. Thomas Eric Judd (courtesy Paul Malone)

For Bomber Command the losses were extremely heavy with 34 aircraft lost, either on the operation or on return to their bases. 179 Crew were killed with 36 taken PoW.

Halifax JB843 was shot down by Hptm. Hans-Joachim Jabs (1) of 11./NJG1at 02.40 hrs at Breezand with combat taking place at 4,200 mtrs.

Left: Hptm. Hans-Joachim Jabs (courtesy Kracker Archives)

(1) This was the 36th claim for Hptm. Hans-Joachim Jabs. Both a night fighter and daytime ace with some 50 victories. He survived the war - died on the 28th October 2003, age 86.